Premium
the structural context of religious conversion in Petén, Guatemala: status, community, and multicommunity 1
Author(s) -
REINA RUBEN E.,
SCHWARTZ NORMAN B.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1974.1.1.02a00090
Subject(s) - protestantism , religious conversion , sociology , context (archaeology) , position (finance) , religious community , latin americans , anthropology , social environment , sociology of religion , social science , religious studies , history , political science , law , philosophy , archaeology , economics , finance
Why do some people change their religious affiliations, with all this may imply for family and community relations? Why are some communities more receptive than others to religious innovation? Are there any patterned relationships among social position, group organization, and community culture which help account for intra‐ and intercommunity variation in religious conversion? In Latin America, one area for investigating these questions is the conversion of traditional and folk Catholics to Protestantism and to modern Catholicism. The questions are, of course, related to the larger issues of change and stability, and for those interested in applied anthropology the answers may bear on the strategy used in approaching “target” societies; for others, the answers are relevant to theories of cultural innovation and continuity.